Yilei Chen: On the Correlation Intractability of Obfuscated Pseudorandom Functions

Abstract: 

A family of hash functions is called ``correlation intractable'' if it is hard to find, given a random function in the family, an input-output pair that satisfies any ``sparse'' relation, namely any relation that is hard to satisfy for truly random functions. Correlation intractability captures a strong and natural Random Oracle-like property. However, it is widely considered to be unobtainable. Indeed, it was shown that correlation intractable functions do not exist for some length parameters [Canetti, Goldreich and Halevi, J.ACM 04]. Furthermore, no candidate constructions have been proposed in the literature for any setting of the parameters.

 

We construct a correlation intractable function ensemble that withstands all relations with a priori bounded polynomial complexity. We assume the existence of sub-exponentially secure indistinguishability obfuscators, puncturable pseudorandom functions, and input-hiding obfuscators for evasive circuits. The existence of the latter is implied by Virtual-Grey-Box obfuscation for evasive circuits [Bitansky et al, CRYPTO 14].

 

Joint work with Ran Canetti and Leonid Reyzin.